Mobile communication devices have become increasingly common in current society. The prevalence of these mobile communication devices is driven in part by the many functions that are now enabled on such devices. Increased processing capabilities in such devices means that mobile communication devices have evolved from being pure communication tools into sophisticated mobile multimedia centers that enable enhanced user experiences.
The redefined user experience requires higher data rates offered by such advanced radio access technology (RAT) as long-term evolution (LTE) and fifth-generation new radio (5G-NR). To achieve the higher data rates, a mobile communication device often employs a power amplifier(s) to increase output power of radio frequency (RF) signals (e.g., maintaining sufficient energy per bit) communicated by mobile communication devices. In addition, the mobile communication device may employ a filter(s) and/or a coupler(s) in various processing stages along a signal transmission path(s) and a signal reception path(s).
The mobile communication device may be configured to transmit an uplink RF signal(s) concurrently in an LTE transmit band and a 5G-NR transmit band (e.g., LTE uplink band 71 and 5G-NR uplink band 71), while concurrently receiving a downlink RF signal(s) in an LTE receive band and a 5G-NR receive band (e.g., LTE downlink band 71 and 5G-NR downlink band 71). Given that the power amplifier(s), the filter(s), and/or the coupler(s) on the signal transmission path can be inherently non-linear, the uplink RF signal(s) can cause an intermodulation distortion(s) (e.g., a third order intermodulation distortion (IMD3)) to be generated above and below RF spectrums of the LTE transmit band and the 5G-NR transmit band. Moreover, the intermodulation distortion(s) may fall within the LTE receive band and/or the 5G-NR receive band, thus desensing a receiver(s) configured to receive the downlink RF signal(s). Although it is possible to employ additional filters to suppress the intermodulation distortion(s) in the mobile communication device, it may be difficult to do so for certain LTE and 5G-NR bands with a non-contiguous RF spectrum(s). Thus, it may be desirable to suppress the intermodulation distortion(s) in the mobile communication device to support concurrent LTE and 5G-NR transmission and reception in both contiguous and non-contiguous RF spectrums.